Assessing gender differences in disappeared persons and the circumtances of their disappearance.

Assessing gender differences in disappeared persons and the circumtances of their disappearance.

2012-09-01 00:00:00 20m

The objective of this study was to assess gender differences in disappeared persons and the circumstances of their disappearance. The method involved the completion of a semi structured interview and questionnaires by individuals searching for missing and disappeared persons in Croatia (1991-1995) as a part of the nationwide disappeared person’s registry of the Croatian Commission for Detained and Missing Persons. A total of 6,183 informants provided information on characteristics and circumstances of 2,563 disappeared persons, 84% of total number of 3,052 disappeared persons. The findings of this study indicate high Levels of civilian disappearance during the war in Croatia.

Although in many cases remains of disappeared have been exhumed and identified, a large number of people are still unaccounted for, more than a decade after their disappearance, and are presumed dead. This indicates a high level of human right abuses against the civilian population in Croatia, including abduction and murder, which are against the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, articles 1 to 2,5,7, and 9. In addition, unreported and important gender difference emerged among the disappeared: whereas most men were between 18 and 49 years of age, the majority of the disappeared women were elderly. It is unclear whether this pattern was unique to Croatia or whether similar gender differences occurred elsewhere in the Balkans and in other conflicts characterized by human right abuses, contrary to the Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form Detention or Imprisonment. These findings are important for guiding future policy decisions in the region, planning programs for the survivors of the disappeared and holding perpetrators accountable for their actions according to Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, article 19. The findings clearly indicate the need for protection of the elderly in war zones and need for information dissemination regarding the level of risk in war zones.

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International Society for Health and Human Rights 2012

War and Trafficking: Migrant, trafficked and bonded workers and the business of organ harvesting.

War and Trafficking: Migrant, trafficked and bonded workers and the business of organ harvesting.

The present-day abuses of migrant labour, human trafficking and bonded labour worldwide deserve long-overdue investigation by business academics into their causes and dynamics. Utilising data from

Group intervention with children

Group intervention with children

This article aims at reflecting, in the style of a story and not as a scientific or scholarly article, on a group therapy intervention with children of urban slums of Lima, populated by migrants from

The rise of juvenile crime in Georgia

The rise of juvenile crime in Georgia

Violence among the adolescents and adolescent delinquency often results in criminal charges and 14-18 year olds end up in the penitentiary facility. By the year 2005 only 26 adolescents were serving sentence in special juvenile facilities; however from 2006 onwards their number has increased drastically. At times the numbers of inmates reached 200, while today 162 juveniles are serving sentence. The rise of juvenile crime has become a debate issue for various groups of the Georgian society – education experts, psychologists, politicians are looking for the reasons of the situation at hand. We attempted a study of the demographic, social and academic profiles of adolescent inmates (the study of the Ministry of Education and Science, 2009), also taking into account our 5-year practice of working with juvenile convicts, which was aimed at supporting their resocialization and future reintegration into the society. In this work we will present a psychosocial portrait of an adolescent in the penitentiary system and consider the particular stress-factors that affect the juveniles and are determined by the specific features of the Georgian criminal subculture. We will also present 5 psychotypes of the adolescents in conflict with the law that were determined by the Freiburg personality test and will try to describe the self perception of the convicts while in confinement and after their sentence is served.

Case studies from GCRT of victims of war and other types of violence

Case studies from GCRT of victims of war and other types of violence

During our work in GCRT for years we attained significant experience in psycho-traumatology. In contemporary concept of psycho-traumatology a human is referred to as a bio-psycho-social being. In trauma, its psychological and physical integrity are infringed. Person: soul and body is one whole, so it's very important to treat a person at every level through holistic and multidisciplinary approach. Our goal is to present cases of our beneficiaries, who were victims of war and other types of violence and developed different kind of psycho-traumatic disorders. We would like to share our experience of treating and rehabilitating body and psyche as one whole. Several cases (rehabilitation process and results) are discussed. In each presented case psycho-traumatic disorders have been diagnosed and confirmed clinically.

Research on trauma brought on by the disappearance of a child

Research on trauma brought on by the disappearance of a child

Research on trauma brought on by the disappearance of a child is rare. The aim of our study was to increase understanding of uncertainty's role in the lives of those it affects, to present a narrative structure of the parents' testimonies, and to discern the origin of hope still felt by the parents. Sampling and Methods: Close reading and qualitative analysis of 29 testimonies given by parents whose sons disappeared during the Croatian War for Independence. Gender differences, categories, and frequencies of adjectives used were determined.

Stress factors in post-soviet period 1989-2011

Stress factors in post-soviet period 1989-2011

The Collapse of the soviet system caused prolonged political, economical and psychosocial difficulties for the society. On one hand, collapse of totalitarian regime gives opportunity for change and

Justice and reparation: Acompanamiento a los afectados directos y sus faliliares

Justice and reparation: Acompanamiento a los afectados directos y sus faliliares

En esta coyuntura histórica de la realización de los Juicios a los responsables del Terrorismo de Estado de la última dictadura militar argentina, nos proponemos contribuir desde nuestro rol profesional en el acompañamiento a los afectados directos y sus familiares hoy constituidos en testigos y querellantes de estas causas. Desde una perspectiva psicosocial, la magnitud de los traumatismos producidos por la dictadura así como la impunidad posterior, ocasionaron daños profundos que persisten a lo largo del tiempo y a través de las generaciones. La realización de estos juicios, además de la oportunidad concreta de acceder a la condena de los responsables, permite la reelaboración personal y colectiva de lo ocurrido, así como habilita nuevos modelos de inscripción de la memoria histórica. Este escenario plantea nuevos desafíos que requieren complejos y particulares modos de intervención clínica y psicosocial. Se abordarán el dispositivo de acompañamiento psico-jurídico a testigos y querellantes como una de las intervenciones que desarrollamos en el ámbito de los derechos humanos y la salud mental, considerando el papel del testigo y del testimonio, sus aspectos reparatorios y de encuentro con lo traumático.